Middle East.- Roberts (David) The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia, 6 vol. in 3, 248 tinted lithographed plates finished with hand-colouring, including portrait frontispiece and 6 pictorial titles, 2 uncoloured maps, tissue-guards, closed marginal tear to portrait near gutter, some foxing to plates, mostly marginal, original deluxe binding of gilt-stamped navy morocco, covers with central gilt arms of Jerusalem, neat and expert restoration to spine ends, joints and corners, g.e., [Abbey, Travel 388; Blackmer 1432], 4to, 1855-56.

⁂ The first quarto edition of Roberts' masterpiece, very rare with contemporary hand-colouring. In this set, the normally tinted plates have been finished by hand, closely imitating the deluxe colouring of the original folio edition (1842-49). Howard Radclyffe, former director of Bernard Quaritch Ltd., who handled this copy in the previous century, explains in a loosely inserted typed description that "coloured copies of the "small" edition of this celebrated work are extremely rare and this is the first copy to have passed through our hands. They were commissioned at the express wishes of subscribers who preferred the smaller format to the huge folio edition".